jade.domain
Class FIPAServiceCommunicator

java.lang.Object
  |
  +--jade.domain.FIPAServiceCommunicator

Direct Known Subclasses:

AMSService, AMSServiceCommunicator, DFService, DFServiceCommunicator

public class FIPAServiceCommunicator

extends java.lang.Object

This class provides a set of basic and static methods to perform the FIPA Agent Management actions. However, developers should use DFService and AMSService which provide specialized methods to communicate with the DF and the AMS.

Author:

Fabio Bellifemine - CSELT S.p.A.

Constructor Summary

FIPAServiceCommunicator()

Method Summary

static ACLMessage

doFipaRequestClient(Agent a, ACLMessage request) This method plays the initiator role in the Fipa-Request interaction protocol and performs all the steps of the protocol.

Methods inherited from class java.lang.Object

clone, equals, finalize, getClass, hashCode, notify, notifyAll, toString, wait, wait, wait

Constructor Detail

FIPAServiceCommunicator

public FIPAServiceCommunicator()

Method Detail

doFipaRequestClient

public static ACLMessage doFipaRequestClient(Agent a,
                                             ACLMessage request)
                                      throws FIPAException

This method plays the initiator role in the Fipa-Request interaction protocol and performs all the steps of the protocol. Take care because the method blocks until all the response messages are received. Under error conditions, or if the responder does not wish to respond, that might block for ever the execution of the agent. For this reason, the FipaRequestInitiatorBehaviour is the preferred way to play the protocol.

Parameters:

a - is the Agent playing the initiator role

request - is the ACLMessage to be sent. Notice that all the slots of the message must have already been filled by the caller.

Returns:

the INFORM message received in the final state of the protocol, if the protocol succeeded, otherwise it throws an Exception